Flue cleaning and straightening machine.



K. IVIATHEUS.

FLUE CLEANING AND STRAIGHTENING MACHINE.

APPLICATION EILED IAN. I2, 1914.

Patented May 25, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

I fm f/vfae W W RE I I THE NORRIS PETERS CO., PHOTO-LITHQ. WASHINGTON. D. C.

-K. MATHEUS.

FLUE CLEANING AND STRAIGHTENING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.12,1914.

Patented May 25, 1915.

m MW 2 w W/TNESSES THE NORRIS PETERS CD. PHOTO-LITHO" WASHINGTON. D. C.

are.

KARL MATHEUS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FLUE CLEANING AND STRAIGHTENING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters latent.

Patented May 25, 1915.

Application filed. January 12, 1914. Serial No. 811,771.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, KARL MATHEUS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicage, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flue Cleaning and Straightening Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The essential object of this invention 1s to provide a machine which, at a single operation, is adapted both to remove the scale or crust which collects upon the outer surface of a boiler flue, and at the same time to straighten the flue at places where it has become bent.

It is a well known fact that boiler flues, especially those which are used in the boilers of railway locomotives become covered with a scale which results from the deposit of the mineral matter in the water, and that the flues are often bent. Because of the fact that flues exceeding twenty feet in length are so common at the present day, and because the flues usually cannot be supported at the middle but are held at the ends only where they are attached to the boiler-head, the fines become bent or swaged by their own weight, as well as because of the jarring of the engine, and it is the object of this invention to provide a machine which will quickly and eificaciously both remove the scale and straighten the flue. The flue, of course, must be removed from the boiler before being operated upon by the machine.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine partly in section; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the machine; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33, Fig. 4; Fig. 4 is a view taken at right angles to the view of Fig. 3 and is a section along line 4-4, Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is a view looking toward the left, Fig. 1.

The flue 1 which is to have the scale removed from the outside and which is also to be straightened, is fed through the machine, preferably passing from the right to left, Figs. 1 and 2. The flue is fed forward by a number of pairs of rollers 2 and 3 which are provided with concaved peripheries so as better to grasp the flue, and said rollers can be cross-connected together in any desired manner so as to cause same to rotate in unison and at the desired rate of speed. All of the operating parts can be driven from a main shaft 4, which shaft bears gear 5 driven by a pinion 6, and said pinion may be rotated from any suitable source of power. The mechanism for causing shaft 4 to drive the rollers 2 and 3 is conventionally shown in the drawings but is not herein described in detail.

Supported upon the bed 7 are standards 8 which carry the pillow blocks 9 to which the caps 10 are bolted. Said pillow blocks 9 and caps 10 form a bearing within which the mechanism that removes the scale from the outer surface of the flue is adapted to revolve. Said revolving mechanism, is supported upon a sleeve 11 journaled in the bearing thus provided and the sleeve is secured to the rotating wheel 12 which is driven in any suitable manner, as, for eX- ample, by a chain passing over the sprocket wheel 13 which is keyed upon shaft 4. As best shown in Fig. 1, the cap 10 and pillow block 9 are made in two sections and the wheel 12 is placed between the sections.

The circular back-plate 14 bears the flanged periphery 15. An annular band 16 is secured by bolts 17 to the flange 15. A flange 18 is formed integral with the plate 14 and is bolted at 19 to the sleeve 11, the end of the sleeve 11 being recessed at 20 so as to provide a space for the flange 18. Because of this construction, the plate 14 will revolve in accordance with the revolutions of the wheel 12 and sleeve 11, and since members for removing the scale from the flue are secured to the plate 14, said members are thus caused to rotate about the flue 1 as an axis.

Seatedin the plate 14 and retained in place by the annular band 16 is an annular front-plate 22. At 23 the plate 14 is also flanged and the front-plate 22 is retained in the spaces between the flanges 15 and 23. Brackets 24 are secured by bolts 25 to the front plate 22, the ends of said bolts being countersunk at 26. Said brackets 24 are slotted or grooved at 27 and form a guide or way within which the block 28 is adapted to slide. Formed integral with said block 28 or otherwise rigidly secured thereto is the arcuate holder 29 within which the wheels 30 are pivoted at 31. bracket 32, which is perforated at 33, sup-- ports the rod 34 which is encircled by the helical spring 35. At one end said rod 34 bears the nuts 36 and at the other end the same is secured to the holder 29 secured to An arm or .in the front plate 22.

which encircles the the block 37, it being understood that the arcuate holder 29 and the block '37 are preferably made in one piece. The bracket 32 the back-plate 14, but said slots have one end farther removed from the center of the plate than the other end. When the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 4, the studs 39 will be removed as far as possible from the center of the back-plate 14, and, hence, from the center or axis ofthe flue. 1, but if the parts be moved in a'clockwise direction, Fig. 4, the back-plate 14 remaining 'at rest, the wheels 30 will be forced somewhat nearer to the axis of the flue. This construction is necessary in order that the machine may accommodate flues of different diameters. .When the flue to be operated upon is relatively large in diameter, the parts will be arranged as depicted .in Fig. 4, but when a flue of smaller diameter is in the machine, the parts will be arranged so that the wheels 30 are nearer the center of the flue than depicted in the drawing. The bolts 41 are secured'to the back-plate 14 and project outwardly through slots-'42 The purpose and objectof bolts 41 is to assist in binding the back-plate 14 and front'plate 22 together and to prevent the vibration which might occur if the band 16 alone were relied upon to hold said back and front plates together. The wheels 30 by which the scale or crust is removed from the outer surface of the flue 1, are made with alternate sections of star points 43 and circular disks 44. The

disks 44'on one side of the axis of the flue are in registration with the star points 43 on the other side. No novelty is claimed for the wheel itself, as wheels of this type are well known in the art'and are used for such purposes as grinding emery wheels and the like.

As herein elsewhere stated, the flue 1 is fed from one end of the machine to the other, and this longitudinal movement of the flue takes place while the parts best shown in Figs. 3 and 4, are rotating around the flue and while the helical spring 35, 7 rod 34 and which is interposed between the bracket 32 and block 37' normally presses the wheels 30 into engagement with the outer surface of the flue.

The wheels 30 scrape, cut, and in an obvious manner remove the scale from the surface of the flue.

The bed 7. supports other standards45, 46, and 47, which standards carry fluted the different sets rollers. The flue is fed forwardfrom right to left passing between the different pairs of rollers supported upon said standards 45, 46, and 47, and it is by these standards that the bends in the flue 1 are straightened out. The standards 45 support rollers 48 and adjustable rollers 49, the standards 46 support the rollers 50 and 51, and the stand-' ards 47 support the. rollers 52 and 53. All of said rollers, 48,49, 50, 51, 52, and 53 are fluted or grooved so as to conform in shape to the shape of the flue.

' In order to permit the machine toaccommod ate itself more effectively to flues of different sizes the rollers 2,51, and 52 are all mounted upon shafts the ends of which are journaled in boxes 54. Boxes 54 are.

slidably mounted in guideways 55. and screws 56 raise or lower the boxes 54. In this manner the height of the upper roller of each pair pair can be regulated at will. I

he operation of the machine will be evident fromthe foregoing description of parts but may be summarized as follows: The.

particular flue '1 which is to be operated upon is fed'into the machine at the right end, Figs. land 2. The flue will'be grasped between the rollers 2 and 8'and-fo'rw-arded toward the left. The flue will first be acted upon by that particular cutting and scraping mechanism shown in section in Fig. 1,

thence between the rollers 48 and 49, thence past the cutting and scraping mechanism shown in full lines. in Fig. 1, thence between the rollers 50 and 51, thence past a cutting and scraping mechanism, not shown in the drawings but which is retained within the casing 56, and finally past the rollers shown at the left end of Fig. 1.1 Since the moving parts are adapted to be driven from the main shaft 4, it is obvious that the flue will be forwarded simultaneously as the cutting wheels 30 are rotated therearound, and that as the flue passes from one'end of the machine to the other it will have the crust or scale removed therefrom and will be straightened out to Whatever extent may be necessary at a single continuous operation. It will be obvious,'moreover, that the number of cutting and scraping units which are supplied may be varied as necessary, though the specific machine shown in the drawings is provided with three such units. As previously. stated,-the flues become bent or sagged by their own weight and these bends will be removed because of the passing of the flue between the different pairs of fluted rollers. Said rollers are set with their respective axes in alinement, and for that reason the passage of the flue between of rollers will straighten out or remove any bends which may be present in the flue.

In the operation of the machine, the parts above the lower roller of each are driven at such rate of speed as the judgment of the operator may determine, and the number of fines which may be cleaned in a given time depends largely upon the ability of the operator to feed the uncleaned flues in at one end and to remove the cleaned flues at the other end.

As is well known, the flue-cleaning machines known and in use at the present day nearly all embody a large rotating rumble in which a number of flues which are to be cleaned are retained; and then, as the rumble is revolved, the flues, by striking one another, gradually abrade the scale or crust which has collected. Although this process will remove the scale, it is objectionable because the flues in striking one another sometimes become dented and have their ends split or become otherwise injured. The machine, forming the subject-matter of this invention, however, will clean the flue without doing any damage at all to the flue and will, moreover, operate without creating the deafening noise which cannot be avoided when the large rumbles are used. With the old machines, moreover, the scale or crust was removed by one operation and the bends were straightened out by an entirely distinct apparatus and operation, making it necessary, accordingly, to handle each flue twice, whereas in the present invention, the crust is removed and the flue is straightened at a single operation, thus greatly reducing the amount of labor required. In the old machines, moreover, it was necessary to handle each flue by hand when same was being placed in or removed from the rumble, while with this machine, the flues can be fed to and removed from the machine by mechanical pipe-handling appliances, of which there are a number upon the market, thus eliminating a great deal of heavy manual labor which cannot be avoided when a rumble is used. Finally, it should be noted that this machine will operate with very much less expenditure of power than what is required when a rumble is used because with this machine only one flue at a time is handled, whereas with the old machines enough power to handle a great number of fines at the same time is necessary, and this machine, therefore, can be driven by a very small motor or engine, whereas with the old machines a great deal of power is consumed in order to rotate the rumble.

The pressure of the fluted rollers by which the flue is gripped and forwarded should ordinarily be sufficient to prevent the flue from rotating. Normally, the flue might rotate under the action of the cutting wheels 30, and were the flue to rotate, the scale would not be properly removed. It is desirable, therefore, to make the fluted rollers grip the flue with sufficient tenacity to prevent any rotary movement of the flue within the machine.

I claim as my invention:

1. A machine of the character described comprising a bed, a plate revolubly mounted thereupon, said plate being perforated to permit passage of the fiue, a holder, cutting wheels secured in said holder an arm connected with said back-plate from which said holder is supported, resilient means interposed intermediate said holder and the support therefor, a cam, and means intermediate said holder and said cam adapted to control the position of said holder.

2. The combination with a bed, of a plate revoluble thereon, provided with an eccentric slot, a second plate revoluble with said first plate and bodily adjustable relative thereto, a slidable bracket carried by said second plate, an arcuate holder carried by said bracket, wheels rotatably mounted in said holder, and means cooperable with said bracket and said eccentric slot whereby the relative bodily adjustment of said second plate will move said bracket and associated parts upon said second plate.

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a bed, a revoluble plate thereon provided with an eccentric slot, a second plate revoluble with said first plate and bodily adjustable thereto, guides secured to said second plate, a bracket plate slidable between said guides, a bracket extending therefrom, a holder carried by said bracket, wheels rotatably mounted in said holder, and means adapted to cooperate with said bracket plate and said eccentric slot whereby said second plate is adapted to produce reciprocation of the bracket plate between the guides aforesaid.

4. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a bed, a revoluble plate thereon provided with an eccentric slot, a second plate revoluble with said first plate and bodily adjustable thereto, guides secured to said second plate, a bracket plate slidable between said guides, a bracket extending therefrom, an arcuate holder, a one-way yielding connection between said bracket and said holder, wheels rotatably mounted in said holder, and means adapted to cooperate with said bracket plate and said eccentric slot whereby the relative bodily adjustment of said second plate will reciprocate the guides aforesaid.

5. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a bed, a revoluble plate thereon provided with an eccentric slot, a second plate revoluble with said first plate and bodily adjustable thereto, guides secured to said second plate, a bracket plate slidable between said guides, a bracket extending therefrom, an arcuate holder, 21- one-way yielding connection between said bracket and said holder, wheels rotatably mounted in said holder, and a stud secured to said In testimony whereof l hereunto afiix'my bracket, piercing said second plate and exsignature in the presence of two witnesses.

tending into the said eccentric slot whereby KARL MATHEUS. the relative adjustment of said plates re- Witnesses: v ciprocates said bracket plate between said ELLIOTT R. GOLDSMITH,

guides. RoB'r. KLoP'rz.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gcmmissioner of- Patents,

Washingtcn, D. G." r 

